Asakusa Temple

The Asakusa Temple (Senso-ji) combines majestic architecture, centers of worship, elaborate Japanese gardens, and traditional markets to give you a modern-day look at the history and culture of Japan. Erected in the year 645 AD, in what was once ...

Another amazing day out in Tokyo with Viatour. The skytree is well worth going to and the Asakusa is really good for shopping and photos. The only drawback was having to get back from Tokyo train station in the evening. There were 3 of us trying to find our way back and it wasn't easy, somehow we managed it between us but it took about an hour and was quite stressful finding the right trains and the right exits. nI would have been perfect had we been dropped back to hotel. Mind you it threw us in at the deep end and the next day we were confident to go out on the trains on our own!

The guide had a lot of information and was very good. The first part of the trip is mostly a bus ride through the city but Asakusa was very interesting and the Skytree was excellent. I would recommend the tour even just for the Skytree. It holds hundreds of people. The lines were VERY long but on this tour we got to skip the line and went right in. With this tour you wont have to get transportation, including VERY expensive taxi, there or find parking and you will be dropped off at Tokyo Station after the tour guide rounds you up. It was very convenient. Also, the tour was in the evening so we got to see the sunset and see the city in the dark. I thought the allotted time (90 minutes?) might be too long before we went but with the size of the place and the number of people there the time was just right.

I had a ton of fun on this tour, our guide was very informative, constantly giving information even about the neighborhoods we were just driving through. And we were lucky enough to go on a day that had a festival at Asakusa Shrine, so that was extra exciting. I'd definitely recommend this tour.

This was a great tour to get to know Tokyo on my first full day there. It is only half day and I opted at the end not to get back on the bus and to stay at the Sensoji Temple and shop on Nakemise Street by the Temple {and did so for hours!} I loved seeing the Tokyo Tower but the time goes quickly and would have liked to get some food from some of the sweet shops in the bottom of the tower. There is also a small McDonalds in the base of the tower as well. Great views from above. Next stop was the Imperial Palace which is gorgeous. It was just a quick stop but I was able to get some nice photos. From there we went to Sensoji Temple and it can be quite busy when you get there since it is lunch hour and a lot of students come and buy treats from the vendors there. If you stay longer into the afternoon, it does get less busy and is easier to shop. Go down some of the side streets as well for other shops with great deals. If you have time in the afternoon, you can take a 15 minute walk from the temple, over a bridge and walk to the Skytree on your own. At the end of this tour, it goes by Ueno but I left the tour before this so I don't actually know what is seen there. There is lots to see at Sensoji Temple and this should be the last stop because I think a lot people would end their tour there. Asakusa Metro station is right nearby and since you have to make your own way home anyway, it is a perfect area to hang out.

Wife and I enjoyed this tour. We saw highlights of Tokyo and gave us ideas on how to spend the rest of our time in Tokyo. The tour guide's English was very good and she added humor. She also provided information about Japan's culture. We were lucky enough to see a Shinto wedding and the guide also showed pictures of her Shinto wedding. We noticed that the tour does not include travel back from the bus terminal to your hotel. No problem, wife and I decided to stay longer at the Senso-ji temple and had lunch in the area. Our guide showed us how to take the metro and it left us 1/2 block away from our hotel. We learn how to use the metro and used it to get around in Tokyo.

Great trip to do which gives you a run around the key sites in Tokyo (it doesn't stop - so if you want to visits these, you'll have to do that separately), to give you a good orientation.

Having been here before, it was nice to sit back and enjoy the view before getting to Asakusa for the first stop and a bit of temple viewing. There's also a great little row of shops to pick up some nice souvenirs of Japan.

The main reason I did this trip was for the Skytree and the fact the groups jump the queue!!! We we in, and up very quickly for stunning views, just at sunset for both a day and night view of Tokyo and beyond. The queue to go to the upper level was very short, so I paid the extra Y1000 (not included) to go up to 450m.

Great trip, with a very good guide throughout - I made my own way back so I had more time to enjoy the amazing shopping and restaurants below the tower. Do this trip, you won't be disappointed.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of useful information about Tokyo throughout the trip, he even taught us how to count to ten in Japanese. The trip was a great way to see some of the sights of Tokyo. The world trade centre and Asakusa were particularly good. The boat trip was ok but a bit boring. However it was nice to say that we had sailed on the Sumida river. We would definitely recommend this short trip to anyone visiting Tokyo for a few days.

The Tokyo tour was awesome. Our guide was fun and informative. I do wish we had had more time at Asakusa and maybe less at Aqua City. Other than that I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who is interested in seeing the highlights of Tokyo in a single day.

We joined this tour on our 3rd and final full day in Tokyo. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We had travelled around Tokyo on our own the previous 2 days, but this tour covered alot of ground, provided some respite from the heat and was thoroughly interesting. Our guide Junko was excellent. Her English is impeccable, and she gave good explanations of where we were going and what we would see. She tought us about the customs and even taught us a few words of Japanese. She did a good job of managing the large group, and keeping us together. She even wrote out some directions for us in Japanese at the end of the tour. The tour was diverse and very interesting. First stop was at the Tokyo Tower. We had a clear day, with good views. The Happo-en garden was beautiful, with a wonderful assortment of bonsai trees. It was interesting to see the rituals of the tea ceremony. A wonderful bonus was seeing 3 bridal parties in the garden that day, some in traditional dress, some in white gowns. Lunch was at a beautiful hotel, with an extensive garden, with more brides! The BBQ was delicious [Oishi]. We walked around the Imperial Palace, and saw what we could of the manucured grounds and buildings from the gate.Through the GInza, and all the fancy shops. Then it was on the river on a short cruise, past some interesting sights, to Asakusa Cannon Temple via the Nakamise shopping street. The shopping street was interesting, lots of small shops and stalls, with samples of snacks and lots of kimonos to try on. The temple and the pagoda are beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. It was the perfect of our time in Tokyo. It would have been very difficult, especially in the heat and himidity, to cover as much ground as we did in one day on one's own.

Our guide spoke English well since she had studied in Canada. She gave a little humorous side to the shrines and temples ("when passing through the gate of a shrine, you are said to be cleansed, but some people have to go back and forth several times before they are clean enough to move forward...") which made it fun. It was our first day so we didn't mind sitting in the bus for 30 minutes to get to the starting point, we just people watched all the little kids going to school, people on foot, etc. We had a little free time at Asakusa Buddhist Temple which was fun. Bring snacks with you as you have little time to sit and have a coffee, etc. We saw 3 things that morning, including the Imperial Palace which was super cool because we heard the guards practicing their martial arts behind a fence and could see them jumping high and shouting, etc.

This city tour is a must do!!! When my husband and I arrived in Tokyo it was hard to tell from my guide book, which sites we should see first and how we get around to them. Luckily, I booked this tour before we got there and so our trip was not dependent on me and my ability to glean information from a guide book. This tour hit most of the iconic sites that you would want to see if you only had a day in Tokyo and was at such a nice (quick) pace that my husband never lost interest even though we had been in Japan for 10 days already. First stop, Tokyo Tower, (get your pictures quick because it can be a bit of blitz up to the top and back). Then we were off to a traditional tea ceremony and Japanese garden. The ceremony was beautiful and our guide (Keiko) walked us through all of the steps on our way over to the ceremony so we knew what to do while there. Then off to our ishiyaki lunch (food grilled in front of you on a hot stone) which was super tasty and entertaining. Next, was a walk by the imperial palace (of course you can only see the gate but it's still beautiful) and then our river boat trip. The boat trip is relaxing but don't bother taking pictures of skytree tower in the beginning, the best pictures of the tower are at the end of the trip when you get to Asakusa. The tour end at the temple in Asakusa and it was absolutely stunning!! Huge red gates and lanterns with large golden statues. Really breathe taking (and again, this is after we've seen plenty of temples and shrines). For those of you who like to shop (don't we all?) there is a good sized open-air market at the temple with all the souvenir and food purchases you would need. I would also like to say that our guide, Keiko, was great. Very knowledgeable and interesting! This tour is a must!

Absolutely wonderful experience. This tour is perfect for first time visitors to Tokyo because it has a bit of the old and new that Tokyo has to offer. Visiting the Asakusa Temple was like a scene from a movie. When I read the description I thought it was going to be a quiet, time to reflect kind of thing. Instead I thought I was in Tibet or on a movie set..It was awesome!..It was like a city within a city, much bigger than I ever imagined and the smell of incense burning made it all seem like a dream.The Tokyo bay cruise was very smooth and relaxing and the Meji Shrine was like stepping back in time and a very spiritual experience. We were also served a great lunch on the 12th floor of this building looking out over Tokyo harbor. And best of all was the tour guide Mai. She was so nice and took the time to explain everything to us and answered all our questions. And most of all at the end of the tour she took the extra time to make sure that myself and several other tour members got on the right train to go back to our hotels. It was my first time using the train system and it looks very intimidating but she made sure I bought the right ticket and made it to the correct train platform..Thank you Mai!!..Do yourself a favor and book this tour, this is my second tour I booked through Viator {my other tour was the Mt Fuji, Lake Ashi and Bullet Train Day Trip I did in 2009} you get so much more than what what you paid for and life long memories

The Asakusa Temple is a must-see place in Tokyo. There are shops nearby for food and souvenirs. The tall pagoda is also nice for photo ops. The Tokyo Skytree is the latest attraction in Tokyo and the highest tower in the world. We went up the view deck in the super fast elevator and enjoyed the sight of Tokyo and its surroundings from high above. People can also choose to go to the higher view deck for an additional fee, but we did not go there anymore. The Central Tokyo sightseeing was just from the moving bus. Our tour guide was fluent in English and very knowledgeable about the place and its history.

Contrasting the fantastic old with the amazing new in 'must sees' in Tokyo is the theme of this tour. The temple and shopping at Asakusa are absolute 'musts' in Tokyo, especially if you don't have the time to get to Kyoto when you are in Japan. I know lots of business and conference visitors have very little time for sightseeing, but this is the beauty of this tour: you get to see ancient and modern Japan in a very short time and still have plenty of time for those fantastic souvenirs. The temple at Asakusa is amazing, and the guide provided great background information which really introduced you to the culture and religions of Japan. Near Asakusa, is a great, very old shopping strip full of very good quality souvenirs. There is your usual tourist souvenirs, but if you want that high quality Kimono at a teasonable price, you'll find it here in no time. Everything was of excellent quality. After seeing the old and ancient Japan, you get to see the amazing Tokyo SkyTree. If you went by yourself, you could wait a very long time in queues, but the beauty of this tour, is that you don't wait long at all, as they have a group booking. This is really great when you are on a tight schedule. The view from the SkyTree is amazing, and the building itself is a wonder of Japanese design, technology and engineering. The guide on this tour also provded ,any insights into Japanese culture durimg the tour, and was very pleased to answer all of your questions about Japan or where to buy that special item. If you only have an afternoon to spare in Tokyo, this is the tour for you!